Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole have questioned Graham Potter’s handling of the handball drama in Chelsea’s draw at West Ham, accusing the manager of showing a lack of experience....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
In the 89th minute, with the score tied at 1-1, Conor Gallagher’s shot was blocked by Tomas Soucek with his arm, depriving Chelsea of what appeared to be a clear penalty.
When asked if it was a handball by BT Sport after the game, Potter replied that it ‘looked it’ but chose not to dwell on the situation, saying: ‘These are the little things you need to go in your favor and at the moment they are not so that’s life there is nothing to complain about.
Chelsea struggled in the second half in east London despite being denied a penalty, and they have now lost 14 points in their previous seven league games.
Ferdinand was adamant that Potter, under increasing pressure after the club’s £300 million spending binge in January, should have made the handball incident “the story” in order to draw attention away from the lackluster performance.
The former Manchester United defender asserted that previous Blues manager Jose Mourinho would have made it the back page news on Sunday and that Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp would have handled the issue quite differently.
Ferdinand said on BT Sport: “It comes with experience. If you look at a Pep Guardiola or Klopp or Mourinho in years past at Chelsea, that would have been the headline. The back page would have been Mourinho criticizes VAR and takes the focus off what occurs on the pitch.
With Chelsea, there were some areas you could have done better, but that wasn’t the priority; it definitely is now. the surge of players and the expenditure of money, but you can counteract it by managing the press conference’s narrative.
Cole expressed concern over Potter’s inexperience and insisted that someone should have been making “uproar” in the Chelsea dugout.
“You need to cause a bit of an uproar because it does two things,” he said. “If he had someone in his staff who has been at that level and managed at that level.”
“It distorts the worst aspects of your performance, but it places the blame on VAR.” Without your fault, Chelsea lost the opportunity to win that game.
You may analyze your team’s performance on Monday morning, but if I were giving him advice right away, I’d tell him to go out and make something of it.
Make the Chelsea supporters leave this place feeling bad for themselves rather than wondering why we lost to West Ham. That shows a little inexperience.
